FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SOFTBALL - PAGE 2

Glenbard North softball coach Josh Sanew has a nickname for pitcher Lilly Fecho that helps describe her rapid development during the offseason. Sanew watched "Lights-Out Lilly" put up solid, but not dominating numbers last season, when she was 16-5 with 112 strikeouts and a 1.11 ERA in 132-plus innings. "We always saw some glimpses of her talent," Sanew said. "She's always thrown well for us. But we wondered when she was going to become a strikeout pitcher and take the next step.

Manteno softball coach Josh Carlile has witnessed Brooke Stulga blossom from a novice pitcher into a budding talent. But Carlile didn't hear much from Stulga, now a sophomore, during the first two years he gave her pitching lessons, which began when Stulga was in fifth grade. Carlile's background - a sergeant in the Army National Guard - combined with his crewcut and voice kept Stulga quiet until she was in seventh grade. "I was so scared of him," Stulga said. "I would just do my work and not look at him. Now I'm taller than him, so I'm not scared.

Barrington coach Perry Peterson would have moved the outfield fence back about 20 feet if he could have Tuesday when his team played a home game against Trinity, which took advantage of a 195-foot porch to hit three home runs in a 10-5 victory. The Blazers (10-0), who finished second in Class 3A last season but moved to 4A this season, have 11 home runs and don't appear to be slowing down. "Most impressive team we have seen this year," Peterson said. Two Blazers got things going in the second inning, when No. 9 hitter Gabrielle Smart pounded her first career home run, a three-run shot to left-center.

Tori Burke visualized becoming the starting pitcher at Bartlett. She just didn't think her time would arrive this close to the expiration date of her prep career. Burke endured many obstacles on the way to becoming the ace of Bartlett's staff, from self-doubt after not making varsity her freshman season to enduring her first major injury during the middle of last season. "I've had a lot of struggles to get to where I am right now," Burke said. "I've worked hard all of these years and finally achieved my goal.

Morgan Maize School: Leyden. Class: Junior. Position: Pitcher. Numbers: .427 BA, 50 H, 18 HR, 77 RBIs; 23-6, 213 SO, 1.18 ERA. College: Undecided. The scoop: A West Suburban all-conference player three years in a row, she helped Leyden (27-8) set a program record for wins. Repeated: "I told Morgan during her freshman year that she would have a major impact on Illinois high school softball, and she has held up her side of the deal.

Cary-Grove junior Lindsay Efflandt kept an air of secrecy when asked to reveal her vast repertoire of pitches. "I'd rather not say," she said. Efflandt has learned keeping her opponents guessing is a vital ingredient for her main job - and her hobby. A successful, record-breaking pitcher by day, Efflandt's secret passion is writing books. She has written two books of a planned series of nine, with each book ranging from 350 to 400 pages. "I'd love to be an author or a screen writer for movies," Efflandt said.

Another impressive pitching performance by sophomore Brittany Gardner of Sandburg has put the Loyola University women's softball team into the final of the Horizon League tournament for the first time since 2004. Should second-seeded Loyola win the double-elimination tourney Saturday, it would earn its first NCAA tournament bid in history. Gardner followed a no-hitter Thursday -- her second of the season - for a 6-0 win over Wisconsin-Green Baywith a 14-strikeout effort in a 9-1 win Friday over Butler at Valparaiso, Ind. Top-seeded Valparaiso will be Loyola's final opponent.

SOCHI, Russia - The International Olympic Committee could take another step this week toward getting baseball and women's softball back into the Olympics as well as adding squash for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. New IOC president Thomas Bach said Monday he expects discussion by the IOC membership at their general meeting on flexibility toward adding sports, for which the Olympic Charter has a seven-year rule. It mandates sports must be on the Olympic program seven years before the summer or winter Olympics in which they will be contested.